Use of polymeric membranes in separation processes

During the past decades, membrane-based technology has been widely used in various applications, such as water treatment, food industry, biochemical engineering andpharmaceuticals, etc. Separation with polymeric membranes has emerged as a major application of membrane technologyduring the past 15 years. Membranes are gaining wider acceptance for two reasons: it consistently produces effluents of acceptable discharge quality and it is perceived to be a simple process from an operational viewpoint. The design of a membrane separation process depends on the separation to beperformed and the properties of the membranes used [1]. Pervaporation is a promising membrane-based technique for the separation of liquid mixtures, especially in azeotropic or close-boiling solutions. Emulsion liquid membrane separation technique is known as a promising technique for recoveringmetal ions, phenols, etc. from diluted streams. On the other hand, gas separation with glassy membranes, rigid polymers,can be used for separation of gases. Ceramic membranes, such as γ-Alumina membranes, can be used for gas transport andseparation. The ceramic supported composite membranes have attracted tremendous attention for their significant performances in ultrafiltration, pervaporation, gas separation,membrane-based reactor, membrane chromatography, etc. In this work, we will consider the progress and applications of the polymeric and ceramic membranes in separation processes [2].